“The Veterans Affairs Department wasted more than a billion dollars over six years attempting to upgrade its electronic health records system before scrapping the projects in June, according to a congressional watchdog.”
“The Government Accountability Office found that VA paid out roughly $1.1 billion between fiscal 2011 and 2016 to contractors working to update the agency’s outdated Veterans Information Systems and Technology Architecture system.”
“The single biggest contractor between 2011 and 2016 was ASM Research, which received a combined $162.6 million for work on the two modernization efforts. Systems Made Simple Inc. stood as the next highest-paid contractor, receiving $92 million mostly for work on VistA Evolution, followed by…”
“Cerner Corp. ranked as the 13th highest-paid contractor with awards for the two projects totalling $13.4 million. In June, Shulkin selected Cerner for what could be a $10 billion deal … an overhaul VA acting Chief Information Officer Scott Blackburn called one of the biggest IT implementations in history.”
“Blackburn defended the agency’s decision to award Cerner the massive contract on Thursday before a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee…”
Source: VA Wasted $1.1 Billion on Failed IT Projects in Six Years – By Jack Corrigan, December 8, 2017, Nextgov. Read the full article here.
